Have you ever wondered how much a community can matter when supporting an idea? In recent years, a phenomenon that seemed «exotic» for Romania began to grow rapidly here: crowdfunding — that type of financial support in which people choose to contribute directly to causes or projects in which they believe. And Romania not only keeps pace, but surprises. The latest data from the 4fund.com platform regarding the evolution of crowdfunding at the local level in 2025 shows that Romania is one of the fastest growing markets in Europe, both in terms of the number of campaigns and the value of funds collected. Last year, according to the analysis of 4fund.com, there were almost 7,000 fundraising campaigns created in Romania – that is, approximately 19 per day – and they managed to collect a total of over 450,000 euros. The crowdfunding phenomenon is also confirmed by the small Romanian entrepreneurs who have begun to transform community support into a new source of financing. One such example is Tiny Transylvania, a different business in tourism, with three houses on wheels located on the edge of the Făget forest near Cluj-Napoca.Elf Battle, co-founder, Tiny Transylvania «At the beginning of 2026, we launched the first crowdfunding campaign, an important step to reach the eligibility threshold in a project financed by European funds. We look at this campaign as a community and validation exercise, not just financing. (…) We decided to turn to crowdfunding as a complementary financing solution, precisely to reduce dependence on classic sources and to build more predictability. We aim to raise 50,911 lei, amount needed to reach the eligibility threshold for a future financing from European funds», says Tünde Csata, co-founder, Tiny Transylvania, for ZF. All the money raised through this campaign will go to impact projects. Practically, anyone who knows the business, the founders or simply appreciates small entrepreneurship and wants to help, can contribute financially. For the two entrepreneurs, as Tünde Csata says, crowdfunding is not only a way to cover a financial gap created by the economic and fiscal context, but also a way to validate the project and directly involve the community in the growth of Tiny Transylvania. «In an unstable fiscal environment, the support of the community and the diversification of funding sources become essential to be able to continue investments and social impact in the long term», believes the co-founder of the business. Another example of a project that relies on the financial support of the community is Beer Wall Cafe, a craft beer business started by entrepreneur Alin Deac in Cluj-Napoca. Beer Wall started out of an interest in craft beer and ended up creating a community where people who share the same passion can support each other.
Alin Deac, founder, Beer Wall Cafe «The collected money will be used for several purposes: building and setting up a terrace, marketing campaigns involving local producers, financing educational experiences for craft beer enthusiasts, supporting social causes and involvement in environmental protection projects», says Alin Deac in a short video presentation of the campaign on the crowdfunding platform consolid8, where the fundraising for his project takes place. Compared to other European markets, the dynamics of crowdfunding development in Romania stood out in particular. In 2025, the value of funds collected through Romanian campaigns increased by more than 140% compared to the previous year, a significantly higher advance than in more mature markets, according to the data collected from the 4fund.com analysis. In Italy, for example, the increase in the value of campaigns stood at approximately 49% from year to year, and in Hungary at approximately 40–45%, which indicates a stable but considerably slower evolution.
Moreover, last year, users from many countries launched tens of thousands of campaigns, most of them coming from Romania, which generated about 13% of the total number of new campaigns on the 4fund.com platform. 4fund is a free European crowdfunding platform that allows anyone to create campaigns for any purpose – from gifts, travel, business projects, to charitable causes. Although the median value of an individual donation was 37.14 euros, and the average amount raised per campaign was around 49.7 euros, which shows that the broad involvement of the community translated into real efficiency – about 35% of the campaigns reached or exceeded the set goal.
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